About the Cardinals -- they lead the majors in batting and on-base percentage, and they're tied for the lead in runs (the stat that really matters). They're also sixth in ERA. What's hurt them has been late-inning relief, and they finally stopped handing leads to Ryan Franklin!

Were it not for four losses in games they led in the ninth inning -- at least two of which were extremely fluky -- they'd be 16-6, good for the best winning percentage in major league baseball.

All that being said, I agree with you in that I don't expect them to stay atop their division ... no doubt, I'm expecting teams such as St. Louis, Florida and Cleveland to drop, and teams such as Boston, San Francisco and Atlanta to rise. But that's one thing to keep in mind with early-season power rankings -- they're not a prediction of how I expect things to play out over the next few months, but a look at how teams are playing right now, about an eighth of the way into the schedule.